Jack in a Box
by Minnelli2007
Summary: He was a jack in a box. The softer and vulnerable portion of him surrounded by tin. He just needed someone to turn the crank and spring him free. She was the person to do it.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hurt Locker, only original characters and the plot based off the movie. Enjoy.

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"Ma'm, Sergeant James is here for his appointment." A voice rang out from the intercom letting her know her first patient for the day was in. The woman sighed in defeat but answered her assistant while brushing her bangs from her eyes.

"Send him in." She stood and walked from her desk to the two chairs that were across from each other. The man in question walked in and smirked when he saw her waiting.

"Morning Doc." He plopped into the seat across from her and put his feet on the table. She pushed his feet off and adjusted her skirt.

"Good morning William." She responded and picked his folder up from the table. "Today we will be discussing the letters your wife has sent you and how you feel in regards to them." She looked up at him and her hazel eyes connected with his blue. She noticed they dulled a bit at the topic but he forced a smile none-the-less.

"What's to discuss Gab, she wants' out. Simple as that." Gab frowned at his shortened usage of her name and checked a box regarding his avoidance of subject.

"Doctor Harper, please William." She crossed her legs and adjusted her glasses. "While she might want the divorce, how do you feel in regards to it? I know she blindsided you with the documents and you are within your right to feel betrayed by her for not discussing this with you the last time you were home." She spoke while reviewing notes from his last visit, looking up she noticed he was staring at her legs. Clearing her throat, Will glanced up and smirked at being caught.

"Shoulda, woulda, coulda, Doc. She wants a divorce and wants to keep our son. I want to stay in the military. It's a win win situation." He shrugged and clasped his hands behind his head. "Now what I want to talk about is when we're going on a date." She bit the inside of her mouth to swallow her rude comment and ignored him.

"So did you take another deployment to escape your wife and child?" She ventured deciding to change discussion to his work. He frowned and thought a moment before answering.

"Not to get away no, it was too different." Gab raised her brows in surprise as the man in front of her rarely answered her questions. She quickly jotted down his comment and asked her next question.

"Different how?" She watched him struggle to answer and spoke before he could. "I know this is difficult for you right now William, but the more progress we make, the sooner I can clear you back to field work." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"After going through so much on my last deployment I felt restless, useless almost. I found it agitating not to be doing something more than just grocery shopping or cooking dinner." She noticed he began to play with the button on his military jacket and wrote it down.

"Do you think after your last detail you needed a break? When I spoke with your previous team members they said your methods were unorthodox and reckless which made it hard to work with you at times." She glanced up at the clock and noticed they only had 5 minutes left out of the short session.

"No, yes, no. I wouldn't say I needed a break from the military life but maybe I needed to speak with someone a little sooner then this. Maybe I should have taken a short leave after the incident with the young boy. Who knows?" He shrugged and leaned back in his chair looking at her. "Maybe I just needed a pretty woman to keep me in check." He waggled his eyebrows at her and she frowned glancing at the clock again. Relieved to notice the time was up she stood and placed his folder on her desk.

"Times up William. Scheduled your next appointment with Lukas and have a good weekend." She walked over to the door and opened it while gesturing for him to leave. He stood from his seat and walked over to her stopping in front of her.

"How about this weekend eh? Mess hall makes a great meal." She gently shoved him through the door and with a strong no, shut it behind him.

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Will walked back to the weapons locker after his therapy appointment and punched in for the day. He walked over to his station and picked up a gun from the pile. He began checking it over to make sure the gun wouldn't jam in the field and then began to polish and clean it. It was a mundane job and was slowly beginning to grate on his nerves. He couldn't wait for Gab to clear him back to field duty. Another man walked in and sat next to Will.

"How was your appointment with the lovely doc?" He question while pulling a gun towards him and inspecting it.

"Wonderful as usual Anderson; something you wanted?" Will quirked an eyebrow at the tall man and took the pistol back from him.

"Just seeing how that bets coming along. So far none of the guys have gotten anywhere with the frigid bitch." Will looked over amused at Anderson whose grey eyes were fuming in anger. "She kicked me out the other day even after I tried to put the moves on." Will frowned at that and put the gun down.

"Ever think she ain't interested in dumbasses." He stood from the table and put the inspected guns into a cabinet. He began to clean bullets before loading them into their clips.

"I'm telling you James, she's got a stick up her ass that I'd love to remove and replace with something else." The two men chuckled and set back to work both imaging things they'd do to the doctor.

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Comments are always loved :)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hurt Locker, only original characters and the plot based off the movie. Enjoy.

**Special thanks to Noxin and ChocolateButtons for the reviews :)**

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He was on his bed with his hands clasped behind his head when he heard the siren go off. Jumping up quickly, he began to pull his boots and jacket on while placing his helmet haphazardly on his head. Grabbing his automatic rifle and locking his helmet, James began to sprint towards his station. He quickly got there and noticed most of the unit was already assembled.

"This is a drill, your response time has been noted. In the building behind me, we have a hostage situation set up for you. You will enter as teams of four and will be using paintball guns instead of live ammo. This situation was created to test your skills so even though no lives are in danger, treat this as if they were. Understood?" Each man nodded and the captain began to divide the men into teams.

"Evans, James, Lee, Miller; team four. Anderson, Cook, Gray, Reed; team five. Everyone you have five minutes to speak with your team before you go in. There are anywhere from one to four hostages to be recovered, you are to determine who the hostages are and who the hostiles are. Your final score is based upon time, injuries to your team or hostages, deaths and captures. Along with the paint guns you will be given two flash bangs and two smoke grenades. Are there any questions?" The man all grouped together while the captain finished his speech and a clear response was given.

"Sir no, Sir!"

"You have five minutes." The captain clicked the stop watch and the four men huddled together.

"Specialties? I'm SF, Jack Lee." They went around the circle and found out that Tom Miller and Mike Evans were both IF and that James was EOD. Lee nodded and began setting up the game plan.

"Miller and Evan's can take point and James can come up the rear. I'm going to loop around the building to try and find another entrance but also gather intel. When we start, take the first 30 seconds to scan the entire area. James look behind; Miller and Evans take left and right; I'll clear the front. Hostages are more important than captures so make sure they are rescued even if it means bringing down the hostile. Try to take at least one hostile if possible. Make sure to use the flash and smoke accordingly. I will take a smoke, you three can pick who gets what. I will contact James on radio if needed so make sure they are turned low, other than that no contact is better. Got it?" Everyone more or less agreed with the plan.

They waited as the first three teams went in and came back out. James noticed each team had an EOD included in the group and figured there was a bomb of some sort inside. He mentioned his observation to his team and Lee looked over with an appraising look. The captain called for them and the men felt adrenaline begin to course through them.

"Begin!" The officer clicked his stop watch again and the men all scanned the area quickly. James noticed a truck was parked behind with equipment on the back. He motioned to the team and they moved towards it, finding it to be filled with silencers for the guns, extra ammo and a medical kit. They all loaded up and James grabbed the kit leaving it at the bunker as they passed by. The men quietly moved towards the dimly lit house and scanned the area. Motioning to the three men, Lee started to make his way around back. Miller grabbed the door knob while James and Evans crept towards the windows to peek inside. James nodded to Miller that the room was clear and he turned the handle, and made his way inside staying low. Evans followed and James came in last, shutting the door behind him so no one would be alerted.

"Fire escape, continue on." Crackled over the radio and James motioned to the other two to move forward into the next room. There were two door ways. He went to the doorway on the right and peeked around the corner. It was the kitchen and two men were sitting at a wooden table while a third was looking out the window. Evans and Miller found a bathroom and found a hostage tied up in the bathtub. The man was an older gentlemen and Miller cut his bonds. Miller evacuated the hostage while Evans joined James at the door.

"Three in the room, two at table and one at the window. Flash bang?" James briefed him, his voice as low as possible. Evans nodded and they deployed the flash. A shout went up and the two ran into the room, shooting the men at the table and bringing down the third at the window. Evans started to restrain the man while James watched the other doorway. Thundering footsteps were heard from above and James moved to the side of the doorway ready to intercept. A groan was heard followed by Lee shouting down clear to the men. Evans began to escort the hostile out to Miller, telling him to meet halfway so they could fully clear the house. James glanced out the window and noticed the bulkhead door of the house was thrown open and a man went running.

"Lee outside!" He shouted and Lee took off after the man, shooting him in the leg and thus crippling him. The man shot at Lee and he went down as the shot hit him in the neck. Evans looped around the building hearing the shots and shot at the hostile on the ground, killing him in the scenerio. Without waiting James had gone down the other set of stairs and kicked the door open at the bottom. He stopped short when he noticed a hostage was tied to chair and next to her was a bomb.

"Harper?" She looked up at him with tired hazel eyes.

"You've just set off the trigger since you didn't check the door before coming in. You now have five minutes to leave the area. I have been here for days and am unable to sustain my own body weight." She recited as part of her job as hostage. James swore under his breathe and relayed all information to Evans who began to round everyone up and move them further away, carrying Lee on his back, recovering the body to bring home. James walked over to the bomb and after examining it, realized he didn't have enough time to disable it. He checked on Gab and noticed she was cuffed to the chair. Taking out his pocket knife, he jammed it into the keyhole for the cuffs and tried twisting it around to break the lock. The cuff snapped open and he freed one hand and moved to the other. A minute and a half had passed by the time he got both hands free. Moving quickly he un-did her feet and lifted the psychologist into his arms. Running out of the open bulkhead he sprinted while trying to get as far out of the radius of the bomb as possible. Gab sat limply in his arms under orders to not help in her rescue.

"BOOM." Sounded out from where the captain sat and James fell to the ground, covering Gab with his body. They sat that way for a minute until she started to squirm from his hot breathe on her neck. He looked down at her a smirk playing on his lips.

"Well this is nice." She scoffed and pushed her way out from under him. He stood and reached down to pull her to her feet. He started to brush the dust from her clothes but she waved him away and walked over to the captain in silence. James joined his team while Gabrielle went and sat next to the officer and the other man that acted as hostage. The last group ran through the house, taking hoping to make no mistakes. All five groups assembled in front of the captain while all hostages filled out a report on how the rescue went.

"You all will report to me tomorrow morning at 0600 for results. Dismissed." Everyone went their separate ways congratulating each other or muttering over what went wrong. James noticed Dr. Harper was walking by herself back towards the living area.

"Doc!" James called out, jogging to catch up to her. He smiled when she cringed and began to walk a little faster. In moments he reached her and slowed his pace to walk by her side.

"What's the rush?" He quirked an eyebrow at her and listened to her sigh.

"Just trying to get to bed, up early tomorrow." Both of his brows rose at that, knowing she didn't take patients on weekends.

"Why?"

"I run on weekends and have things that need to be done." She answered with a curt tone, hoping he'd notice. They reached her door and she pulled her key out while James leaned against the house.

"Need any help?" He asked in a low tone, eyes appraising her fit figure. She walked into her house and looked back at him with a blank face.

"No." The door shut in his face and he chuckled, making his way back to his quarters.

_Feisty._ He thought to himself; knowing that when he caught her, his victory would be sweeter for it. She was like a bomb, looks complicated on the outside but once opened up easy enough to disable. He was a bomb expert.

_She could be number 874. _Was his last thought before drifting back to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hurt Locker, only original characters and the plot based off the movie.**

**Thanks again to ChocolateButtons for the review.**

**Enjoy.**

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She was annoyed to say the least. Starting the day by having to fill in at the mess hall for a solider wasn't so bad. She enjoyed cooking and didn't have a problem with it. But starting the day at 5am and cleaning dishes and with Anderson next to her only shortened her patience.

"Come on Harper, why don't you and I take off for a bit?" He suggested, staring blatantly at her backside. She turned and grabbed a stack of trays from him, dumping them into the water. They splashed the water up into her face and she leaned over the sink in anger.

"Again, Anderson, can you please just shut up." She looked and felt a mess. Gab didn't understand why Anderson couldn't get it through his damn head. She knew they all thought her stupid. Everyone one of them was out to get laid, some little bet they had going. Lukas mentioned it in passing one morning and since then she had her guard up. When would they get it through their thick heads no one was getting laid. She tensed when she felt him move behind her.

"You need to loosen up baby, I can do that for you." His hand snaked around her and settled onto her stomach. She almost gagged in revulsion and lifted her foot and slammed it onto his. He yelped in surprise but still didn't move.

"You wanna get rough baby?" He grabbed her hands and pulled them behind her back. Gabs eyes widened in fright, she couldn't believe this was happening. She knew the military drove certain men to despicable actions but she never imaged being involved in them. Anderson turned her around and pulled her mouth roughly to his, thrusting his tongue inside. She bit down hard, at the same time bringing her knee up to his crotch. He crouched over but didn't fall to the ground and without looking back she took off to the door. The sun glared in her face, messing with her vision for a moment. A moment was all he needed. She was pulled from behind, his hand roughly placed over her mouth. He threw her back into the kitchen. It would be another half an hour before the cooks got in.

"Get the fuck off me." She screamed, terrified when he held her down by straddling her waist. Anderson had both hands held above her head and was moving his hand under her shirt. Pulling it off, her hands were freed and she started scratching at his face, trying to get her finger into his eye. He laughed at her and used the shirt to tie her hands together. She couldn't see his face very well, she didn't put her contacts in and her glasses had fallen off at some point during the fight. She felt powerless and weak, the adrenaline leaving her body, the will to fight leaving her. Anderson had moved down to removing her jeans. He un did her belt buckle and lowered the zipper. Gab was crying, sobbing at him to stop and let her go. She glanced at the clock hopeful, but only five minutes had passed. She had closed her eyes and tried to find the will to fight.

She felt him stop, assuming he was un-dressing himself but when she heard shouts and yells she realized someone was there. Her hands were un-done and she looked up into a concerned soldiers face, his brown eyes looking down in disgust.

"You ok ma'm? Did he hurt you?" The soldier helped Gab pull her shirt back on and helped her to stand from the ground. She looked behind him and noticed the other soldier was destroying Anderson.

"Stop!" She cried, moving forward to grab the other man. He turned and her eyes went wider to see it was William James. His eyes were like hardened steel and it seemed something else had taken over him. His knuckles were split and bleeding, his shirt covered in blood. She took a step back in fright and fell into the other soldier.

More men rushed in and two restrained James and Anderson while Cpt. Johns came in after them.

"What is going on here, James, Anderson, Lee?" Lee was trying to calm down the shaking doctor and looked at his superior office.

"Sir, James and I were reporting to briefing from last night when James noticed the glasses on the ground outside the kitchen. He recalled Anderson speaking about dish duty with the doctor and was going to return the glasses to her. After opening the door, he rushed into the building and I followed. We found the doctor restrained on the ground with her shirt removed. Anderson was forcing himself upon her, sir." The captain nodded and looked at Gabrielle gently.

"Lee escort James and Dr. Harper to medical. Gray and Cook take Anderson to my office. Discretion is advised until this is dealt with, dismissed." Lee waited for everyone to leave before turning back to Gab.

"Do you want me to carry you?" He questioned, noticing she hadn't spoken or stopped shaking since they found her. A small nod and he scooped her up in his arms, not surprised when she flinched from the contact. It was a long walk and the silence did nothing to help the situation.

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His hands were cleaned and bandaged but he still didn't leave the medical building. She still hadn't come out yet. Lee sat next to him, silently watching him with a critical eye.

"You snapped again James."

"I know." He responded, thinking back to the boy with the soccer ball.

"Even with good intentions, it won't be good for you." Lee looked next to him and picked up a magazine and started to flip through it.

"I know."

"Anderson will be discharged most likely but you will probably be suspended from field duty even longer."

"I fucking know, Lee." Lee looked up a bit surprised to see James looking at him with anger.

"You think I don't realize that? I know I've lost grip on my emotions. I know I used to be calm and collected. Now anytime I'm put into a situation all I can see is that civilian I let blow up, and now all I will see is how I almost let her get raped. He bragged last night Lee, that they would be alone together and I didn't do a thing."

Lee looked at him with pity and began to speak but James cut him off.

"I still can't do this, I never should have come back. I was restless and antsy but I'm not ready." He looked up and noticed that Dr. Harper stood in the doorway listening to him. Lee turned to look at her and stood from his seat slowly approaching her.

"Are you ok?" He asked quietly, stopping a few feet from her. Gab nodded her head and offered a shaky smile to him.

"I wanted to thank you both for coming in. I tried to get out but." She trailed off, locking eyes with the tormented looking James. Lee spoke up for them both.

"James over there is the one who saw your glasses on the ground, we're just glad we got you to when we did, before anything else happened." Gab nodded and stared at James, watching him stand and pull something from his pocket.

"These belong to you, doc." He held the glasses out to her and it was a moment before she took them.

"Thank you." She said sincerely, causing him to give a half smile. He shrugged and scratched the back of his head before looking over at Lee who had an un-readable expression.

"I'm going to go report to Cpt. Johns, think you can walk her back home James?" After a consenting nod, Lee turned back to Gabrielle.

"If you ever need to talk, ya?" He offered and she agreed. He left the medical ward and the two stood across from each other, unsure.

"Let's go." James said, walking to the door and holding it open for Gab. She followed him and they began the long walk back to the housing area. Neither knew what to say. She didn't know how to express her thanks and he didn't want to bring up the memory of what had happened. The walk seemed shorter on the way back than it was there. Before she knew it, they were standing on her doorstep and she was fishing out her key. Opening the door she looked back to James and saw him looking at the ground. Without thinking, she stepped in front of him and placed a kiss on his check. He looked up in surprise with a questioning look.

"Thank you Will. I mean it." She trailed off and he stayed, knowing she had more to say. Finally she got the courage to ask.

"Would you want to come by for dinner tonight? It's not much, but a small thank you." He chuckled at her and she looked at him with a frown.

"You don't have to thank me by cooking but I'll come by." Her frown turned into a soft smile and she nodded.

"Be here around 7."

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**Reviews are loved :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hurt Locker, only original characters and the plot based off the movie.**

**Thanks to Straight Edge Queen and Osbourne20 for the reviews, as well as everyone who has put the story on alert. **

**Enjoy**

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**He could tell she was nervous when she opened the door. Her hazel eyes were wide and frantic looking as she let him in the house, rushing back into the kitchen and letting him close the door. He chuckled and looked around the living room. It was pretty bare, the only sign she lived there were all the books spread around the room. He shook his head and followed her into the kitchen, amusement overcoming him at the state.

"You don't cook often do you?" He questioned, looking around at the kitchen trying not to laugh. Gab spun around and glared at him before turning back to the large boiling pot and stirring again.

"It's not exactly my forte." She snapped, feeling like a complete failure in front of the man. He walked over and stood next to her before shutting the burner off on the pot of pasta and the pot of sauce.

"You'll over cook them at this rate sweetheart." He lifted the large pot and brought it to the sink, dumping the contents into the strainer and watching the water fall through. She huffed in annoyance and began setting the small table with dishes and utensils. James sniffed the air and called over his shoulder.

"Something smells like its burning." He smiled when she swore under her breathe and rushed towards the oven, pulling out the well done garlic bread. She threw the pan down on the top of the stove and closed her eyes in frustration. James went through the cabinets and pulled down two bowls, placing the contents of the pot into them. They finished setting the table together and sat down across from each other. The silence stretched between them.

"How are you?" He finally asked, twirling the pasta on his fork and placing it into his mouth.

"Fine." She responded quickly, to which he looked up questioningly.

"Come on Doc, you always want me to talk about feelings, lets hear yours." He pushed, trying to get her to open up about earlier. She looked over at him in anger and put her fork down.

"That wouldn't be very professional James. I think this was a bad idea, maybe you should leave." She stood and started walking to the door, only to be spun around by him.

"It's not healthy to try and suppress or forget it, isn't that what you tell me." He hadn't noticed she flinched when he touched her and it took him a moment to realize she was shaking in fear from his proximity.

"Fuck." He said softly, taking a step back and looking at her more gently. "I'm sorry Gab, I didn't mean to scare you. You have to talk to someone though and wouldn't you rather it be someone who was there? Who you at least know?" He took another step back and watched as she clenched her eyes and fist closed, taking deep breathes.

"I was terrified James, what do you want me to say? That all along I knew someone would come, that I was trying to be strong the entire time. That I didn't resign myself to getting raped?" She was yelling in his face now and he simply stood there, letting her vent her anger and pain. It was the first time he had ever seen her so un-composed. They stood staring at each other before she turned and sat on the couch in the living room.

"I can't be touched by another man without flinching, I don't even like being alone with men anymore." She looked up at him and he sat down next to her, placing his arm behind her on the couch while making sure not to touch her.

"Except you, I feel better near you." She whispered, not bringing herself to look up at him. She stared at the books on the table in front of her. "The moment I realized you were there I can't even describe what I felt." She trailed off, leaving the conversation there. James knew not better than to push her again, taking what she said as enough for now. He was surprised when she turned to him and looked over in concern.

"How are you though? I heard what you said to Jack in the medical building." He looked away from her, seeing the things Anderson had tried to do. He sighed and thought over what to say, and was surprised when she spoke again.

"I think you're wrong anyway." She said quietly, looking up and meeting his blue eyes.

"You might not be ready to go back out there yet, but you are making progress. You should be here, you were meant to be here." They let the silence overcome them again and he shifted so he faced her more openly.

"Maybe we could do this again, ya?" He asked, smiling softly when she nodded in consent. He stood and started to leave when she called out again.

"I think you need to find a new therapist to see James, I think this situation will interfere with that portion of our relationship." Frowning he looked down before sighing realizing she was right.

"Way to ruin my Thursday Doc. Just set me up with someone else then, see you soon?" He left the question hanging and walked out of the house, closing the door behind him. Though the thought saddened him, apparently he wasn't the only messed up person on base anymore. He vowed to help her though, just as she was trying to help him.

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**Reviews are loved. Sorry for the time between chapters, RL is currently taking over and hindering my writing time. Next chapter soon.  
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